The MAP kinase cascade. Discovery of a new signal transduction pathway.

Using biochemical techniques similar to those used by Krebs and Fischer in elucidating the cAMP kinase cascade, a protein kinase cascade has been found that represents a new pathway for signal transduction. This pathway is activated in almost all cells that have been examined by many different growth and differentiation factors, suggesting control of different cell responses. At this writing, four tiers of growth factor regulated kinases, each tier represented by more than one enzyme, have been reconstituted in vitro to form the MAP kinase cascade. Preliminary findings suggesting multiple feedback or feedforward regulation of several components in the cascade predict higher complexity than a simple linear pathway.